Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-09-20
HARVEST HOME.
Baptist Annual Festival Occasion-How Cele-
hrAted,

ner. The First Baptist church building, cor
i by the ladies of the congregation on Satur
r day, the decorations and embellishments con
Y sis.ing OF tame and wild flowers, grasses ant
i shrubs, grain in the sheaf, vegetables, fruits
ETC., which were arranged in festoons, pyra
9 mids, arches, and in fact in almost ever,
e conceivable shape and appropriate design
: The appropriateness OF the collections ant
, their artistic, tasteful arrangement alon
q were enough to constitute most eloquen
sermon.
q Sunday morning broke clear and lovely
Q and hour by hour grew into a perfect day
, and long before the hour for the morning
( sermon the church was filled to its capacity
2 At eleven O'Clock the service was begun
l the congregation uniting with the choir il
3 singing the grand old doxology. After 9th
er opening exercises appropriate to the occa
sion and fervent invocation by Prof. Crav
J en-, the pastor, Rev. W. F. Harper announc
ed as his theme for the morning discourse
Thanksgiving, quoting the fifth verse OF
I the twentieth chapter Of Ephesians as hi;
, scripture text.
With theme so fruitful of thought and
teachings and an occasion and surroundings
SO suggestive of expressions the test to the
speaker seemed to be matter Of choice, SIM
ply, as one culllng the choicest fruits from a
collection embracing the whole catalogue or
of rarest.. overs from alimitless array of buds
and blossoms. the speaker, however, was
heartily eArapporte with the occasion and his
sermon was one of his grandest efforts.
"Words," said he, expressive of grateful
emotions are of frequent occurrence in the
scriptures" This opening expression gave
bent to the idea of gratitude, and citing
the earlier history Of the Jews as a people,
how they hailed with expressions of thank
fitness the opening of the vernal year, fol-
lowed them through the seasons to the
CT owning Of the vintage with grateful exul-
ia ton. Then referring to the animal king
| dom, he illustrated this same principle of
gratitude that was divinely implanted in all
| things animate, and is plainly manifested in
| the higher order of animals, as the horse and
the dog. In Gods beautiful universe, said
the speaker, all things are made double; the
impulse finds its opportunity, and over
against every eeling is its objective never
get the full grasp of thought until we have
formulated it in appropriate expressions
we never know the true power Of an emo
ton until we have allowed it to crystalize
into action. No power can quite quench the
grateful disposition in the human breast,
but through neglect it may fade and
decay From this premise he argued
beautifully and forcefully the i'm
portance of thoughtfulness which is the
parent or companion attribute to thank
fullness.
Space will not allow us to follow the elo-
quent speaker through his most entertaining
and instructive discourse which was richly
embellished with fitting quotations from his
torians, poets and prophets and from the
sciences as well.
At the conclusion Of the sermon proper,
Rev. Harper gave brief resume of the
origin and purpose of the occasion. 1t oTigi-
mated, he said, with the Woman's Missionary
Society of this church, and was first given
form one year ago; but the idea was such a
happy one that it had been adopted by the
church throughout the state and was being
observed at that time by the Baptists of
Kansas in all parts OF the state. The appro-
priateness of the occasion to the season was
selfsuggestive and needed no extended expla- |
nation. The object designed to be furtheredby |
the thank offerings in money was the main |
tenance of the preached word in destitute |
porti ons of the state-that purpose excluS- |
lively in the state.
With this explanation the call was made |
for voluntary offerings and large number |
ranging from ten to fifty dollars were taken |
Then the contribution baskets were passed |
thr ough the congregation for a general col
lection and the aggregate reached the hand |
some sum of s546. After announcements |
for the further exercises of the day |
t he congregation was dismissed |
with benediction by the pastor.
AFTERNOON.
At 2:30 the Sunday-schoolm met as usual but |
instead of the stated lesion for the day the |
e xercises were given festival turn and the |
occasion was made an exceedingly pleasure
able one for all present, the program being |
m ade up Of songs, recitations, ETC., specially |
designed and prepared for the service. At |
the close of the exercises the childrens offer |
iDgs were received, which amounted to s32.-
rs. Announcement for the evening service |
and benediction concluded the afternoon ex-
ercises.
EVENING.
THE reporter is indebted to Mrs. E. J. |
Foster, the very efficient and popular presi-
dent of the society, for the following report |
of the evening servicel
In the evening the "Woman's Missionary
Society" held its annual meeting in the in
terest of home missions. The sanctuary was
in deed filed with praise and Thanksgiving
to the God of the harvest While it was
taxed to its interest, many standing in the
aisles and vestibule, and the windows on the
south side were full Of faces. The ladies rem
dered most excellent program, all doing so
grandly it is difficult to tell width excelled.
They told of the spiritual restitution of the
state and country, in song, verse and'poetry,
urging hearty, spontaneous Thanksgiving
as q duty and privilege for those OF Us
blessed with gospel and Christian influences
They urged systematic giving, thank offer
ings, use of missionary literature, attendance
ct mission meetings, etc, as means of de-
TO unite with them in the sym
PATTY and gifts that were to aow to the
places Of spiritual darkness from their hearts